Count the evening stars

I’ve owned my new iPod for a couple of months now but it feels like longer. I’ve almost forgotten what it was like to manipulate my loyal old Creative Zen and that’s just a little sad as I loved that machine. There are a couple of iPod features that appeal to my slightly nerdish outlook. I rather like the music quiz it offers, asking me questions about all the albums I have stored up in its mighty brain. I also appreciate being able to view, via iTunes, just how many times I have played every song. I couldn’t do that with my Creative although if I were a betting man I’d wager Seven Swans by Sufjan Stevens would have been the most played album on that fine but now deceased Zen. I’ve heard that fine long player just twice on my iPod – I just checked – but have heard a brace of albums no fewer than eight times each. Literally going from A to Z, I’ve listened to Art Brut (Bang Bang Rock & Roll) and The Zombies (Odessey and Oracle) most often. The former is a favourite of all the family and has been mainly relayed via my doughnut-shaped speaker that lives in the kitchen; the latter, a psychedelic pop smasher, remains a personal favourite that I often play through my headphones.